Rabat Takes 2015 Jerez Moto2 Pole Before Home Crowd

2015 Jerez Moto2 Qualifying Results

Esteve “Tito” Rabat had a miserable start to the 2015 Moto2 Championship. The Spaniard suffered a DNF in the season opener at Qatar, just missed the podium in Texas, and finished 12th in Argentina.

Not a performance expected of a reigning Moto2 title holder. But Rabat opened up round four at his home circuit in Jerez on a quick note; the Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Racing pilot earned his first pole of 2015 Moto2 with a lap of 1:42.874 around the 2.75-mile circuit.

Though the temperatures were soaring in Spain, presenting greasy conditions for the grid, Rabat’s pole position was just under two-tenths of a second off the Moto2 lap record set by Stefan Bradl in 2011.

Joining Rabat on the front row for Sunday’s Moto2 race is the rookie Alex Rins (Paginas Amarillas HP40 Kalex), who finished 0.305 of a second behind, and Jonas Folger (AGR Team), who finished a further 0.327 of a second back.

Heading up the second row is Derendinger Racing Interwetten Kalex’s Thomas Luthi (-0.385). He will be joined on row two by Idemitsu Honda Team Asia’s Takaaki Nakagami – starting fifth though he crashed – and Speed Up Racing’s Sam Lowes, who had his worse qualifying position of the season.

The German Sandro Cortese (Dyanvole Intact GP) qualified seventh, ahead of the returning Axel Pons (AGR Team) and the current points leader, AJO Motorsport’s Johann Zarco, who crashed during qualifying.

QMMF Racing Team’s Julian Simon qualified 10th, with less than one second separating the top-18 riders.

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